Greetings to all,
Can anyone put me on the right track. I have a Fujitsu Siemans laptop and want to use the internet when I am away at my mobile home. The problem is there is no landline close to the site and no hotspots around at all.
I believe there is some sort of usb plug in gadget that will do this for me, but is charged for on a monthly basis and has to be run in conjunction with a mobile phone, is this correct ?, or is there some other way to tackle the problem.
Be gentle as I am a computer / thingy dunce.

Cheers to all, good to be back,

Gra. (POP)

michaelF

19th July 2008, 16:43

Graham ,
as long as there is a mobile singnal in the area you are ok .

Checkout google for mobile broadband , for your provider . You can either use your phone or one of the dongles , take a look here to get the idea .

When u choose to use a dongle for the internet the shop you buy from can run a check for you that the area you wish to use it in is OK and that it will work - not all areas have the 3G signals and shifting to dial up thru an ordinary network is a waste of time.
I use one when at home, we live on a boat, about 50% or so of the time it works fine, in some areas I can't get a connection I use the marina's wifi link thus I get reasonable coverage, Getting up and obtaining the weather via the 'net beats the un-yottie hour of the Beebs radio forcasts.
Speeds vary but are usually half decent
Steve

BA204259

19th July 2008, 17:19

One thing to be aware of whether using Orange Internet Everywhere (or equivalent), or using a bluetooth dongle to a suitable mobile phone is the stiff cost of roaming charges if you use them abroad. Currently £4.11 per megabyte in Europe and £6.46 per megabyte for the rest of the world.

Fine of course if your mobile home is here but should you venture into Europe without being aware you could be in for a bit of a shock. You won't get many visits to your bank or SN on one megabyte.

Graham McMorine

19th July 2008, 17:43

Mike, When you say " check for your provider " do you mean my mobile service provider or my internet provider, ie tesco mobile or talktalk broadband.
P.s. I told you I was thick.
Regards ,Gra.

michaelF

19th July 2008, 17:45

Graham ,
mobile service provider

mike

Graham McMorine

19th July 2008, 17:55

Cheers Mike . That makes it all a little clearer. I shall now have a look on Google etc what Tesco / O2 can provide. Thanks for the guidance .

Regards Gra. (Thumb) (Thumb)

michaelF

19th July 2008, 20:02

Graham ,
here is the o2 site

http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/o2broadbandhub

mike

benjidog

19th July 2008, 22:57

Graham,

Remember the wise advise given earlier and make sure there is a 3G signal of reasonable strength where your caravan is located. I have one from which I can only get a GPRS signal which works but means a very slow connection.

Brian

Graham McMorine

26th July 2008, 22:29

Thanks Brian .I will keep that in mind, tho`at the moment I am tending to favour the 3 network, as it seems to have the best coverage for the Holyhead area., but feel free to correct me if I am wrong, as you obviously have more experiance of this art form than I have.

Best regards Gra.

benjidog

27th July 2008, 16:03

This site shows coverage for the Three network and as far as I can see it looks pretty good in the Holyhead area.

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/coverage_/coverageChecker.do

If you have a postcode you can get pretty specific information.

Regards,

Brian

andysk

28th July 2008, 09:47

This site shows coverage for the Three network and as far as I can see it looks pretty good in the Holyhead area.

http://www.three.co.uk/personal/coverage_/coverageChecker.do

If you have a postcode you can get pretty specific information.

Regards,

Brian

Post code analysis will give an indication only, as it depends on many things, including the size of the area covered by the post code. Especially if the network operator plots coverage only on the first three characters of the code, which could be quite a large area and conceal some blind spots.

For Example, my post code is RH16, which covers quite a large area, and has many blind spots for all 5 network operators. Even when using my full post code, that still conceals anomalies as the road is on a hill, so I have poorer coverage from some of the networks than my neighbour a bit higher up, and vv. Coverage can also be affected by trees with and without leaves, buildings

The best way is to try the service you are thinking about first, if you can, or ensure that if you purchase anything, there is a refund option in case of problems.

Hope the above is useful ...

benjidog

28th July 2008, 10:04

Andy is quite right - if there is a chance of taking a laptop already set up with a connection you are planning to use to the site this is the only way you will know for sure.

Brian

Graham McMorine

29th July 2008, 12:37

Thanks fella`s,
All sound advice which I will keep in mind, thanks for the help.